


Valkyrie

by salvabon



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Bamf scully, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Minor Violence, Non-explicit Transphobia, Pre-Relationship, Skinner is basically Dad, Trans Fox Mulder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26526295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salvabon/pseuds/salvabon
Summary: Scully punches a transphobe.
Relationships: Fox Mulder & Dana Scully
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22
Collections: Trans Mulder Literary Universe





	Valkyrie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FlannelGuy51](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlannelGuy51/gifts).



Mulder never ate lunch in the cafeteria. He ate in his basement office, a sandwich usually or sometimes just a handful of sunflower seeds. He didn’t mind, or at least he didn’t seem to mind, and all of Scully’s efforts of getting Mulder to eat with her didn’t come to fruition. She had tried explaining to him that regular meals were important for his metabolism and general health, and that maybe if he had a proper meal every once in a while, he would sleep better and have less cravings for snacks. She doubted it was any better when he was at home - she had seen his perpetually empty fridge. 

"Come on, Mulder," she teased. They had spent the entire morning reworking a case they had been working on, a killer they had tracked down over the course of a week. It had cost both of them a lot of energy and now it was causing them even more paperwork. 

It was noon and she could hear his stomach rumble. Mulder had forgotten to buy any more snacks in between the return from their assignment and their debriefing and subsequent paperwork. Now he was a tiger in a cage walking around his desk. He needed to concentrate, to finish his report.

"Mulder, you know it's Taco Tuesday. Let's just eat in the cafeteria together." 

Scully was already standing by the door, blazer and purse in her hand. 

"I'm not hungry," He said and sat down again pretending to concentrate on his work. In reality the letters were just gently swimming in front of his eyes. 

"We both know that is a lie." 

"I don't have any money." 

Scully sighed. She wasn't quite sure if it was just another lie or not, but she decided she would not accept it either way this time. Enough is enough. 

"I'm buying."

Mulder shot her a sceptical glance. 

"No really, Mulder, I will pay for your food. All you have to do is come over here and accompany me for lunch this one time." 

Fairly hungry herself, Scully was ready to drag him up there by his tie if he found another excuse, but to her surprise he just sighed and walked over with a thankful look. 

"I don't understand why you dislike the cafeteria so much anyway.”

He just shrugged. 

"I promise you the food is better than you'd think." 

The place was bustling with agents carrying food trays and digging into their meals. 

Scully spotted an empty two-person table and directed Mulder towards it. 

"You sit down, I'm getting our lunch. Any wishes?" 

Mulder shook his head, looking around more nervous than you'd expect of a seasoned FBI agent.

"Just get me one with everything," he mumbled half audibly in the noise and occupied their table. 

Most agents were minding their own business, chatting about cases or family matters, or simply eating wordlessly. But she did see a few weird glances into her and her partners direction, and she was pretty sure the agent behind her in the line just said something like "what is Spooky doing here," under his breath. 

Scully was too busy balancing her two trays and orders and her purse to notice anything around her. The background noise was too loud, the movement in her peripheral vision too much. When she finished paying and turned around, an Agent was looming over Mulder with his hands resting on their table. She vaguely recognised him, although she didn't know from where. They probably had seen each other in hallways or had briefly met during a case. She couldn't be sure. What she was sure of, was that Mulder looked tense. The other man was smiling and saying something, but Scully seriously doubted he was being friendly.

She was trying to walk as quickly as she could without dropping anything and yet it felt like an eternity.

Most people were thankfully still unaware of whatever was happening, but a couple of heads were turning into their direction. The Agent’s eyes were filled with the level of malice she was used to only from their job, something she would see in interrogations sometimes. It was the look of a man who though he was somehow untouchable, that he was the one in charge. 

Mulder seemed to shrink in his chair and she could see his jaw clenching. 

She put the trays down with force as she reached the table, just now getting into earshot of what was happening. She just about got the tail end of a word and she did not like what she was hearing. The clatter of plates and cutlery made two other people turn around to see what was happening. 

Agent Scully looked petite next to the other Agent, whose ID she could make out as Bergman now that she was standing right there. 

Mulder shrank even more now that she was here. He was frozen, unable to say or do anything against Agent Bergman. All of his attention was focused on not starting to cry. He would never be able to look at Scully or any other Agent ever again if he started to cry now. But especially not Scully. And now she was standing right there and he did not know how much she had heard of the tirade of transphobia Agent Bergman had hurled at him. 

Maybe she hadn't noticed it, maybe he would just go away, maybe no one had noticed. But he knew that was a lie, there were people staring at him right this second. So many people that knew now, against his consent, that he was trans. 

Agent Bergman's attention briefly wandered from him to Scully and that disgusting smile returned to his face. 

"Did you even know?" He turned to her and pointed his head in Mulder's direction. Mulder felt miles away as he heard these words but still it was like being punched right in the gut. He saw Bergman’s mouth move, he heard him ‘explain’ it to her in all the wrong ways. There was nothing he could do.

He knew Bergman was an asshole, they had trained together, and he never really let go that Mulder was better than him. And when a couple of months ago Skinner had handed over one of Bergman's cases to them, he knew he wouldn't be too happy. When they met in Skinner's office for a briefing, Bergman had been hostile, sure, but more so in a passive aggressive yet professional way. They hadn't seen each other since and he had no idea how he had gotten all those infos in the first place. He had been so careful, right? He was passing so well, wasn't he? He was working from his little basement office, minding his business. He ignored the nickname Spooky and people's general dislike for his work, because it was better than what was happening now. The thoughts spiralled. He was sure that Spooky Mulder would be called entirely different things by tomorrow, half decided to hand in his resignation. 

But Bergman never got to finish his sentence, not even close. Before he had any chance to, Scully kicked her heels between his legs with a strength you never would have expected from a woman of her size, not even as an Agent. 

Bergman groaned and buckled over, just to be met with a fist to the nose.

The room fell dead silent except for some nasally sounding whimpering.

Scully took their food and gently grabbed Mulder by the shoulder, pointing him to the exit. They walked next to each other and it almost felt like Scully was carrying him as well as the food. He felt sluggish from the shock, and every gentle nudge by Scully was keeping him from crumbling. 

She opened the door with an impressive display of gymnastics and placed their food on their desk. Before he could react in any way Scully pulled him into a hug. As she pressed her entire five-foot-two body into his with all her strength, he felt his body relax. Slowly his head rested on hers and the first tears flowed freely, much to his embarrassment again. But it felt good, so good.

Towards the end of the hug, neither of them could tell how long it had been, she squeezed him once more and then untangled from him. 

Scully quickly grabbed a couple of tissues and handed most to Mulder, while using one or two of them to dry off the tear stains on her blazer. "Sorry," Mulder said pointing at it but Scully just smiled it away. He still looked a little unsteady, so she placed her hand on his shoulder and made him sit down. 

"We should eat something," she said. "Lest we starve." 

she sat down close to him, eating her lunch in between comforting looks, and rubbing his back ever so often. 

"Thank you," he said eventually. His voice was stronger again, but he still looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"You shouldn't have gotten into trouble because of me." 

There it was again, the sad puppy look. 

"I stand by my actions," was the answer, short and simple. And it was true. Whatever retribution she would face for injuring another Agent, she would accept it knowing it had been the right thing. And she wouldn't go down without fighting to have the same retribution applied to that asshole. 

Mulder didn't know what to say to this. What if they fired her for this? Just because he hadn't been strong enough to stand up for himself? Because he completely froze up? 

"If you hadn't known..." he started but trailed off. 

"Mulder," she stopped to properly face him, touching his hands. He was nervously fidgeting again. She didn’t keep him from it, but she gently held hers against his. 

"If you hadn't already come out to me, if this man had taken this opportunity from you forcefully, I need you to understand that I still would have supported you. And by all probability would have kicked him the same way." 

A smile hushed over Mulder's face at the memory of his partner snapping. She had been a blur of motion, kicking and punching like some kind of glorious Valkyrie.

"I am sorry I made you eat in the cafeteria. I didn't know it would be that bad, I just-"

"It's okay," he assured her. "The food was good actually." 

It didn't take long for someone to find them there, still sitting close to each other with empty plates in front of them. 

"Agents Scully and Mulder? Assistant Director Skinner is waiting for you in his office, something about a fight?" 

With a sigh they both got up and followed reluctantly. As soon as they reached the more populated areas of the bureau, Scully made a point of keeping her head held high, taking elegant prideful strides towards Skinner's office. Mulder tried to look just as confident, but he was not quite sure he was succeeding. Bergman was led out of the office by two Agents just as they arrived. The blood under his nose had dried but he still looked miserable. He struggled against the other Agent's grip but failed to do anything more than wiggle uncomfortably while walking. 

"Agents," Skinner greeted them with a nod. He looked anything but happy when they entered. 

"It has come to my attention that there has been some kind of...conflict between you two and Agent Bergman." 

"I can explain," Scully said in a defiant tone that she reserves for people questioning her methods, alliances, or qualifications. 

"I would very much like to hear your opinions on this." 

"Agent Mulder and I decided to have lunch in the cafeteria when Agent Bergman approached Mulder with the clear intent to hurt, bully and ridicule him with transphobic language. He did so loudly and with the intent to out Agent Mulder against his consent in a public workspace. He then directed his word to me with the same use of language. The argument ended with a carefully administered act of self-defence." 

Mulder had not taken his eyes of Scully during the entire exchange. She looked as fierce as right before the first kick. He felt again that he did not deserve her, a partner that was so unquestionably on his side. 

"Do you have anything to add to this, Agent Mulder?" 

He shook his head. 

"Well then. We have a slightly different account from Agent Bergman, mostly in the...use of his language. But as this is clearly a case of his word against yours-"

"But sir, there were witnesses-"

"Would you please let me finish first, Agent Mulder. But as this is clearly a case of his word against yours, and because we have evidence that Agent Bergman hacked into the FBI medical database to access Agent Mulder's confidential medical history, we have no choice but believe that this was only a case of rightful self-defence and that no blame is on any of your side." 

The Assistant Director smiled at them and a load fell off Mulder and Scully's minds. 

"Sir, I can't tell how much-" 

"This is absolutely not necessary, Agent Mulder, as nothing happened. You understand?" 

Mulder nodded. 

"And I have already ordered our medical records to be encrypted with stronger methods to make sure such a case cannot happen again. Now, have you at least eaten?"

The next day, Mulder and Scully came to work at the same time after getting a quick breakfast, as recommended by Scully. They passed about a dozen of Agents and although they couldn't be sure how much of the story had transpired, or which version of it, it was certain that they looked at them with a certain level of respect, fear even. 

After many hours of painstaking office work, they were hungry again. Mulder felt not quite ready to set foot back into the cafeteria, so Scully agreed to take the food down to their office again. A few of the agents gave her appreciative nods, some seemed eager to get away from her, some whispered among themselves in hushed tones. As she returned from the cafeteria with two extra big servings she had been handed with a wink, she was sure that no one would get any stupid ideas any time soon. And if they did, Mulder now knew that she had his back, and she was sure that he would have done the same for her. 

**Author's Note:**

> There are so few Trans Mulder fics that I took matters into my own hands.  
> If you have any Trans Mulder headcanons or thoughts please share them with me either on here or on my Tumblr (@magpiegoblin)


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